起初人们认为这种高度对称的完美分子只能在实验室的苛刻条件下或者是星际尘埃中存在,然而1992年美国科学家P. R. Buseck在用高分辨透射电镜研究俄罗斯数亿年前的地下的一种名为Shungites的矿石时,发现了C60和C70的存在,飞行时间质谱也证明了他们的结论,产生原因未知[3]。2010年加拿大西安大略大学科学家在6500光年以外的宇宙星云中发现了C60存在的证据,他们通过史匹哲太空望远镜发现了C60特定的信号。克罗托说:“这个最令人兴奋的突破给我们提供了令人信服的证据:正如我们一直期盼的那样,巴克球在宇宙的亘古前就存在了。”[27]
由于C60分子独特的刚性球状结构,发展能够与其高效结合的特定主体是一件很有意义的工作,二十多年来科学家们乐此不疲地用新奇的化合物和有趣的方式将其包起来得到包含物和嵌合物,在富勒烯的主客体化学方面进行了大量的研究并取得了长足的进展,发展了一系列主体化合物,大致分为富π电子化合物和大环主体两类;前者有二茂铁、卟啉、酞菁、四硫富瓦烯、苝、碗烯和带状多共轭体系等的衍生物,后者有环糊精、杯芳烃、氮杂杯芳烃,长链烷烃和低聚物等的衍生物。[92]迄今与富勒烯分子超分子结合力最强的是相田卓三教授合成的卟啉笼分子,在邻二氯苯中与C60的结合常数为Log Ka = 8.11。[93]
在流行文化中的富勒烯元素很多,并且在科学家关注它们之前就出现了。在《新科学家》杂志中,曾经每周有琼斯(David E. H. Jones)写的叫做《地达拉斯》(Daedalus)的专栏来描述各种有趣但很难实现的科学和技术。1966年,他建议可能通过掺杂杂原子来扭曲一个平面的六边形组成的网来得到一个中空的碳球分子。[116]
Rohlfing, Eric A.; Cox, D. M.; Kaldor, A. Production and characterization of supersonic carbon cluster beams. The Journal of Chemical Physics (AIP Publishing). 1984, 81 (7): 3322–3330. ISSN 0021-9606. doi:10.1063/1.447994.
Krätschmer, W.; Fostiropoulos, K.; Huffman, Donald R. The infrared and ultraviolet absorption spectra of laboratory-produced carbon dust: evidence for the presence of the C60 molecule. Chemical Physics Letters (Elsevier BV). 1990, 170 (2-3): 167–170. ISSN 0009-2614. doi:10.1016/0009-2614(90)87109-5.
Krätschmer, W.; Lamb, Lowell D.; Fostiropoulos, K.; Huffman, Donald R. Solid C60: a new form of carbon. Nature (Springer Nature). 1990, 347 (6291): 354–358. ISSN 0028-0836. doi:10.1038/347354a0.
Kroto, Harold W. C60: Buckminsterfullerene, The Celestial Sphere that Fell to Earth. Angewandte Chemie International Edition in English (Wiley-Blackwell). 1992, 31 (2): 111–129. ISSN 0570-0833. doi:10.1002/anie.199201113.
Kroto, H. W.; Heath, J. R.; O’Brien, S. C.; Curl, R. F.; Smalley, R. E. C60: Buckminsterfullerene. Nature. 1985-11, 318 (6042): 162–163. doi:10.1038/318162a0.
Hummelen, Jan C.; Prato, Maurizio; Wudl, Fred. There Is a Hole in My Bucky. Journal of the American Chemical Society (American Chemical Society (ACS)). 1995, 117 (26): 7003–7004. ISSN 0002-7863. doi:10.1021/ja00131a024.
Hummelen, Jan C.; Knight, Brian W.; LePeq, F.; Wudl, Fred; Yao, Jie; Wilkins, Charles L. Preparation and Characterization of Fulleroid and Methanofullerene Derivatives. The Journal of Organic Chemistry (American Chemical Society (ACS)). 1995, 60 (3): 532–538. ISSN 0022-3263. doi:10.1021/jo00108a012.
Cami, J.; Bernard-Salas, J.; Peeters, E.; Malek, S. E. Detection of C60 and C70 in a Young Planetary Nebula. Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)). 2010-07-22, 329 (5996): 1180–1182. ISSN 0036-8075. doi:10.1126/science.1192035.
Mitchell, Daniel R.; Brown, R. Malcolm; Spires, Tara L.; Romanovicz, Dwight K.; Lagow, Richard J. The Synthesis of Megatubes: New Dimensions in Carbon Materials. Inorganic Chemistry (American Chemical Society (ACS)). 2001, 40 (12): 2751–2755. ISSN 0020-1669. doi:10.1021/ic000551q.
Sano, N.; Wang, H.; Chhowalla, M.; Alexandrou, I.; Amaratunga, G. A. J. Synthesis of carbon 'onions' in water. Nature (Springer Nature). 2001, 414 (6863): 506–507. ISSN 0028-0836. doi:10.1038/35107141.
Shvartsburg, Alexandre A.; Hudgins, Robert R.; Gutierrez, Rafael; Jungnickel, Gerd; Frauenheim, Thomas; Jackson, Koblar A.; Jarrold, Martin F. Ball-and-Chain Dimers from a Hot Fullerene Plasma. The Journal of Physical Chemistry A (American Chemical Society (ACS)). 1999, 103 (27): 5275–5284. ISSN 1089-5639. doi:10.1021/jp9906379.
Pushparaj, V. L.; Shaijumon, M. M.; Kumar, A.; Murugesan, S.; Ci, L.; Vajtai, R.; Linhardt, R. J.; Nalamasu, O.; Ajayan, P. M. Flexible energy storage devices based on nanocomposite paper. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences). 2007-08-15, 104 (34): 13574–13577. ISSN 0027-8424. doi:10.1073/pnas.0706508104.
Guo, Ting; Smalley, Richard E.; Scuseria, Gustavo E. Ab initio theoretical predictions of C28, C28H4, C28F4, (Ti@C28)H4, and M@C28 (M=Mg, Al, Si, S, Ca, Sc, Ti, Ge, Zr, and Sn). The Journal of Chemical Physics (AIP Publishing). 1993, 99 (1): 352–359. ISSN 0021-9606. doi:10.1063/1.465758.
P. A. Troshin; H. Hoppe; J. Renz et. al., "Material Solubility-Photovoltaic Performance Relationship in the Design of Novel Fullerene Derivatives for Bulk Heterojunction Solar Cells", Advanced Functional Materials, 2009, 19, 779.
Ruoff, R. S.; Tse, Doris S.; Malhotra, Ripudaman; Lorents, Donald C. Solubility of fullerene (C60) in a variety of solvents. The Journal of Physical Chemistry (American Chemical Society (ACS)). 1993, 97 (13): 3379–3383. ISSN 0022-3654. doi:10.1021/j100115a049.
Sivaraman, N.; Dhamodaran, R.; Kaliappan, I.; Srinivasan, T. G.; Vasudeva Rao, P. R. P.; Mathews, C. K. C. Solubility of C70in Organic Solvents. Fullerene Science and Technology (Informa UK Limited). 1994, 2 (3): 233–246. ISSN 1064-122X. doi:10.1080/15363839408009549.
Scrivens, Walter A.; Tour, James M. Potent solvents for C60 and their utility for the rapid acquisition of 13C NMR data for fullerenes. Journal of the Chemical Society, Chemical Communications (Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC)). 1993, (15): 1207. ISSN 0022-4936. doi:10.1039/c39930001207.
Semenov, Konstantin N.; Charykov, Nikolai A.; Keskinov, Viktor A.; Piartman, Andrey K.; Blokhin, Alexander A.; Kopyrin, Aleksei A. Solubility of Light Fullerenes in Organic Solvents. Journal of Chemical & Engineering Data (American Chemical Society (ACS)). 2010-01-14, 55 (1): 13–36. ISSN 0021-9568. doi:10.1021/je900296s.
Andrievsky, G.V.; Klochkov, V.K.; Bordyuh, A.B.; Dovbeshko, G.I. Comparative analysis of two aqueous-colloidal solutions of C60 fullerene with help of FTIR reflectance and UV–Vis spectroscopy. Chemical Physics Letters (Elsevier BV). 2002, 364 (1-2): 8–17. ISSN 0009-2614. doi:10.1016/s0009-2614(02)01305-2.
Andrievsky, G.; Klochkov, V.; Derevyanchenko, L. Is the C 60 Fullerene Molecule Toxic?!. Fullerenes, Nanotubes, and Carbon Nanostructures. 2005, 13: 363. doi:10.1080/15363830500237267.
Andrievsky, GV; Bruskov, VI; Tykhomyrov, AA; Gudkov, SV. Peculiarities of the antioxidant and radioprotective effects of hydrated C60 fullerene nanostuctures in vitro and in vivo.. Free radical biology & medicine. 2009, 47 (6): 786–93. PMID 19539750. doi:10.1016/j.freeradbiomed.2009.06.016.
Haddon, R. C.; Hebard, A. F.; Rosseinsky, M. J.; Murphy, D. W.; Duclos, S. J.; Lyons, K. B.; Miller, B.; Rosamilia, J. M.; Fleming, R. M.; Kortan, A. R.; Glarum, S. H.; Makhija, A. V.; Muller, A. J.; Eick, R. H.; Zahurak, S. M.; Tycko, R.; Dabbagh, G.; Thiel, F. A. Conducting films of C60 and C70 by alkali-metal doping. Nature (Springer Nature). 1991, 350 (6316): 320–322. ISSN 0028-0836. doi:10.1038/350320a0.
Hebard, A. F.; Rosseinsky, M. J.; Haddon, R. C.; Murphy, D. W.; Glarum, S. H.; Palstra, T. T. M.; Ramirez, A. P.; Kortan, A. R. Superconductivity at 18 K in potassium-doped C60. Nature (Springer Nature). 1991, 350 (6319): 600–601. ISSN 0028-0836. doi:10.1038/350600a0.
Rosseinsky, M. J.; Ramirez, A. P.; Glarum, S. H.; Murphy, D. W.; Haddon, R. C.; Hebard, A. F.; Palstra, T. T. M.; Kortan, A. R.; Zahurak, S. M.; Makhija, A. V. Superconductivity at 28 K inRbxC60. Physical Review Letters (American Physical Society (APS)). 1991-05-27, 66 (21): 2830–2832. ISSN 0031-9007. doi:10.1103/physrevlett.66.2830.
CHEN, C.-C.; KELTY, S. P.; LIEBER, C. M. (RbxK1-x)3C60 Superconductors: Formation of a Continuous Series of Solid Solutions. Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)). 1991-08-23, 253 (5022): 886–888. ISSN 0036-8075. doi:10.1126/science.253.5022.886.
ZHOU, O.; ZHU, Q.; FISCHER, J. E.; COUSTEL, N.; VAUGHAN, G. B. M.; HEINEY, P. A.; MCCAULEY, J. P.; SMITH, A. B. Compressibility of M3C60 Fullerene Superconductors: Relation Between Tc and Lattice Parameter. Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)). 1992-02-14, 255 (5046): 833–835. ISSN 0036-8075. doi:10.1126/science.255.5046.833.
Iwasa, Y; Takenobu, T. Superconductivity, Mott Hubbard states, and molecular orbital order in intercalated fullerides. Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter (IOP Publishing). 2003-03-24, 15 (13): R495–R519. ISSN 0953-8984. doi:10.1088/0953-8984/15/13/202.
Erwin, Steven C.; Pederson, Mark R. Electronic structure of crystallineK6C60. Physical Review Letters (American Physical Society (APS)). 1991-09-16, 67 (12): 1610–1613. ISSN 0031-9007. doi:10.1103/physrevlett.67.1610.
Erwin, Steven C.; Pederson, Mark R. Electronic structure of superconductingBa6C60. Physical Review B (American Physical Society (APS)). 1993-06-01, 47 (21): 14657–14660. ISSN 0163-1829. doi:10.1103/physrevb.47.14657.
Han, J. E.; Gunnarsson, O.; Crespi, V. H. Strong Superconductivity with Local Jahn-Teller Phonons inC60Solids. Physical Review Letters (American Physical Society (APS)). 2003-04-25, 90 (16). ISSN 0031-9007. doi:10.1103/physrevlett.90.167006.
Capone, M. Strongly Correlated Superconductivity. Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)). 2002-06-28, 296 (5577): 2364–2366. ISSN 0036-8075. doi:10.1126/science.1071122.
Diederich, F. N. Covalent fullerene chemistry. Pure and Applied Chemistry (Walter de Gruyter GmbH). 1997-01-01, 69 (3). ISSN 1365-3075. doi:10.1351/pac199769030395.
Prato, Maurizio; Lucchini, Vittorio; Maggini, Michele; Stimpfl, Elmar; Scorrano, Gianfranco; Eiermann, Matthias; Suzuki, Toshiyasu; Wudl, Fred. Energetic preference in 5,6 and 6,6 ring junction adducts of C60: fulleroids and methanofullerenes. Journal of the American Chemical Society (American Chemical Society (ACS)). 1993, 115 (18): 8479–8480. ISSN 0002-7863. doi:10.1021/ja00071a080.
Vogel, E. Recent advances in the chemistry of bridged annulenes. Pure and Applied Chemistry (Walter de Gruyter GmbH). 1982-01-01, 54 (5). ISSN 1365-3075. doi:10.1351/pac198254051015.
Hoke, Steven H.; Molstad, Jay; Dilettato, Dominique; Jay, Mary Jennifer; Carlson, Dean; Kahr, Bart; Cooks, R. Graham. Reaction of fullerenes and benzyne. The Journal of Organic Chemistry (American Chemical Society (ACS)). 1992, 57 (19): 5069–5071. ISSN 0022-3263. doi:10.1021/jo00045a012.
Darwish, Adam D.; Avent, Anthony G.; Taylor, Roger; Walton, David R. M. Reaction of benzyne with [70]fullerene gives four monoadducts: formation of a triptycene homologue by 1,4-cycloaddition of a fullerene. Journal of the Chemical Society, Perkin Transactions 2 (Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC)). 1996, (10): 2079. ISSN 0300-9580. doi:10.1039/p29960002079.
Bulgakov, R. G.; Kinzyabaeva, Z. S.; Khalilov, L. M.; Yanybin, V. M. Synthesis of fullerene epoxide (C60O) by oxidation of fullerene C60 with oxygen catalyzed by Mn(III), Ni(II), and Co(II) acetylacetonates. Russian Journal of Organic Chemistry (Pleiades Publishing Ltd). 2010, 46 (12): 1776–1779. ISSN 1070-4280. doi:10.1134/s107042801012002x.
Yamakoshi, Yoko; Umezawa, Naoki; Ryu, Akemi; Arakane, Kumi; Miyata, Naoki; Goda, Yukihiro; Masumizu, Toshiki; Nagano, Tetsuo. Active Oxygen Species Generated from Photoexcited Fullerene (C60) as Potential Medicines: O2-•versus1O2. Journal of the American Chemical Society (American Chemical Society (ACS)). 2003, 125 (42): 12803–12809. ISSN 0002-7863. doi:10.1021/ja0355574.
Sawamura, Masaya; Iikura, Hitoshi; Nakamura, Eiichi. The First Pentahaptofullerene Metal Complexes. Journal of the American Chemical Society (American Chemical Society (ACS)). 1996, 118 (50): 12850–12851. ISSN 0002-7863. doi:10.1021/ja962681x.
Xiao, Zuo; Yao, Jiayao; Yu, Yuming; Jia, Zhenshan; Gan, Liangbing. Carving two adjacent holes on [60]fullerene through two consecutive epoxide to diol to dione transformations. Chemical Communications (Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC)). 2010, 46 (44): 8365. ISSN 1359-7345. doi:10.1039/c0cc02750b.
Vougioukalakis, Gc; Roubelakis, Mm; Orfanopoulos, M. Open-cage fullerenes: towards the construction of nanosized molecular containers. Chemical Society Reviews. Jan 2010, 39 (2): 817–44. PMID 20111794. doi:10.1039/b913766a.
Roubelakis, Mm; Vougioukalakis, Gc; Orfanopoulos, M. Open-cage fullerene derivatives having 11-, 12-, and 13-membered-ring orifices: chemical transformations of the organic addends on the rim of the orifice. The Journal of organic chemistry. Aug 2007, 72 (17): 6526–33. ISSN 0022-3263. PMID 17655360. doi:10.1021/jo070796l.
Hummelen, Jan C.; Prato, Maurizio; Wudl, Fred. There Is a Hole in My Bucky. Journal of the American Chemical Society. 1995, 117 (26): 7003. doi:10.1021/ja00131a024.
Yanagisawa, Makoto; Tashiro, Kentaro; Yamasaki, Mikio; Aida, Takuzo. Hosting Fullerenes by Dynamic Bond Formation with an Iridium Porphyrin Cyclic Dimer: A “Chemical Friction” for Rotary Guest Motions. Journal of the American Chemical Society (American Chemical Society (ACS)). 2007, 129 (39): 11912–11913. ISSN 0002-7863. doi:10.1021/ja0747526.
Moussa, F.; Trivin, F.; Céolin, R.; Hadchouel, M.; Sizaret, P. Y.; Greugny, V.; Fabre, C.; Rassat, A.; Szwarc, H. Early effects of C60Administration in Swiss Mice: A Preliminary Account forIn VivoC60Toxicity.. Fullerene Science and Technology (Informa UK Limited). 1996, 4 (1): 21–29. ISSN 1064-122X. doi:10.1080/10641229608001534.
Gharbi, Najla; Pressac, Monique; Hadchouel, Michelle; Szwarc, Henri; Wilson, Stephen R.; Moussa, Fathi. [60]Fullerene is a Powerful Antioxidant in Vivo with No Acute or Subacute Toxicity. Nano Letters (American Chemical Society (ACS)). 2005, 5 (12): 2578–2585. ISSN 1530-6984. doi:10.1021/nl051866b.
Sayes, Christie M.; Marchione, Alexander A.; Reed, Kenneth L.; Warheit, David B. Comparative Pulmonary Toxicity Assessments of C60Water Suspensions in Rats: Few Differences in Fullerene Toxicity in Vivo in Contrast to in Vitro Profiles. Nano Letters (American Chemical Society (ACS)). 2007, 7 (8): 2399–2406. ISSN 1530-6984. doi:10.1021/nl0710710.
Lyons, Dani M.; Mohanraj, John; Accorsi, Gianluca; Armaroli, Nicola; Boyd, Peter D. W. A supramolecular porphyrin–ferrocene–fullerene triad. New Journal of Chemistry (Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC)). 2011, 35 (3): 632. ISSN 1144-0546. doi:10.1039/c0nj00825g.
Yu, G.; Gao, J.; Hummelen, J. C.; Wudl, F.; Heeger, A. J. Polymer Photovoltaic Cells: Enhanced Efficiencies via a Network of Internal Donor-Acceptor Heterojunctions. Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)). 1995-12-15, 270 (5243): 1789–1791. ISSN 0036-8075. doi:10.1126/science.270.5243.1789.
Brabec, Christoph J.; Gowrisanker, Srinivas; Halls, Jonathan J. M.; Laird, Darin; Jia, Shijun; Williams, Shawn P. Polymer-Fullerene Bulk-Heterojunction Solar Cells. Advanced Materials (Wiley-Blackwell). 2010-08-17, 22 (34): 3839–3856. ISSN 0935-9648. doi:10.1002/adma.200903697.
Service, R. F. Outlook Brightens for Plastic Solar Cells. Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)). 2011-04-14, 332 (6027): 293–293. ISSN 0036-8075. doi:10.1126/science.332.6027.293.